Starting and stopping mechanism for talking-machines



M. M WILLS.

STARTING AND STOPPING MECHANISM FUR TALKING MACHINgS.

APPLICATION FILED APR-8| 1M9.

Patented May 24, 1921.

2. SHEEISSHEET I.

INVENTOR wmvzsszs w IWIL t A TTORNEYS I M. M.. WILLS. STARTING AND STOPPING MECHANISM FOR TALKING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. By 1919.

1,379,0 9, Patented May24,1921.

2 SHEEIS-SHEET 2- l 11 I I i. 0 /9| /7 m w 18 42 ;ll 73 7 i :l 9 3 3.9 /4v /f 1 M -\i 4 i u M k 1 WITNESSES mmiron 4 m mfi ATTORNEYS tJNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARMADUKE MOORE WILLS, OF FITGI-IBURG, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE REGINA COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A GGRIORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

STARTING AND STOPPING MECHAIFISM FOR TALKING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filedlllpril 8,1919. Serial No. 288,526.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARMADUKE Moonn lVILLs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Fitchburg, county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Starting and Stopping Mechanism for 'Ialking-lVIachines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to talking machines, particularly to those of the disk. type, although it may also be employed in connection with machines of the cylinder type. My invention has for its object to provide a simple, inexpensive, easily applied and effective means for a talking machine,'as above specified, for the .purpose of starting and stopping the machine at will, and of causing the machine tostop automat1cally at the end of the rendition of a given record 7 or at any desired place upon the record dur: ing the rendition thereofr 1 A further object of the invention is to locate manually operative devices for starting and stopping the machine so as to be.

conveniently accessible from the outside of the cabinet when the latter is closed, and to so arrange said devices that they cannot be subjected to undue strain during their manipulation or be easily injured or disarranged.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a unitary starting and stopping mechanisln'capable of being operated manually, and also, as to its stoppingfunction, automatically at any desired point in the rendition of the record.

My invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings in which so much of a'conventional talking machine of'the disk type is shown as is required to illustrate, describe and explain the invention.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan view showing the essential features of the invention, being taken along the line 11 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 represents a sectional elevation, taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a large scale view, similar to Fig. 2 but confined to the main drive shaft, the governor and the governor lock;

-Fig. 1 is an end view (section elevation) taken along the line l4 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a detail plan View of governor lock controlling mechanism shown on a smaller unlockechthe talking machine being, therefore, in operative condition; while in Figs. 3, it and 5 the governor is shown locked and the talking machine is in inoperative condition.

In the drawings, the usual cabinet, 1, is provided with a motor board, 2, having hung from or fixed upon its lower side a motor, 3, of any preferred type, in this case a conventional spring motor adapted to be wound by the winding crank, 4;.

The'drive shaft, 5, extends through and above the motor board, 2, of the cabinet, 1, and carries the usual and preferably detachable plate or record disk support, 6.

Mounted upon the drive shaft, 5, is a spiral spur gear, 7, meshing with a worm, 8, formed upon a governor shaft, 9 which rotates between centers fixed in standards, 10, constituting part of the frame of motor 3.

Upon the governor shaftis a fly ball governor 11, comprising a ring 12, fixed to the shaft and having attached thereto opposite Patented May 24, 1921.

longitudinally disposed, springs, 13, whose reinote ends are fastened to a sleeve, 14;, slidable upon the shaft. A disk or weight, 15, is fixed to each spring about midway of its length. As the governor shaft revolves, therefore, the disks, 15, will fly outwardly to a greater or lesser extent, according to the speed of the shaft, under the influence of centrifugal force, thereby bending and shortening the distance between the spring ends and correspondingly sliding the sleeve,

14, upon the governor shaft.

The outer end of sleeve, 1 1 has fixed there to a friction or brake disk, 16, cooperating with a suitable braking element for regulation of speed As this constitutes no part of my invention it will not be further described. The end of the governor shaft adjacent disk, 16, is turned down fora short distance so asto providea shoulder, 17,

against which a spring, 18, presses a wvasher, 19, having opposltely extending lugs, 20. The free end of spring 18 abuts against a collar, 21, fixed to the governor shaft. Normally, therefore, as the governor shaft revolves, the washer,-.19- will revolve with it because of its frictional engagement with the shoulder, 17..

Pivotally disposed upon a hollow tubular standard, 22, supported upon the motor board, 2, is a tone arm, 23, of usual construction carrying the sound box 24. The standard 22, connects with the usual underneath horn (not shown).

Fixed to and projecting radially from the pivotal portion of the tone arm is atrip lever, 25, adapted to engage, at a suitable point in the course of the tone arm above the record, a lever. 26. fixed to a shaft. 27,

which is revolubly mounted in the motor board 2; on the under, side of the motor board and frictionally attached to shaft, 27,

is another lever, 28, having a down turned lug, 29.

Also pivotally mounted on the under side of motor board, 2, and adjacent to lever, 28, 1s a semicircular crank piece, 30, having a pro ect1ng lug, 31, and, linked therew th, on

opposite sides of the center, a pair of light push bars or rods, 32, 33, which terminate near the edge of the motor board in position to be engaged respectively by a pair of push,

buttons 34, 35, supported in a mounting, 36. The push buttons 34 and 35 have no positive connection with the pushbars 32 and33and are returned to normal position independently of. said bars 32, 33, immediately after each operation thereof, by means of suitable springs 34 and 35 properly located in the mounting 36. As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the push buttons 34 and 35 extend through an upright wall of the cabinet 1 so as to be readily and conveniently accessible from the exterior thereof. lVith this arrangement the push buttons34and 35 may be operated at will to control the-operation of the instrument, that is, to start andlstop it, while the cabinet is closed andwithout first requiring the customary cover to be raised or opened.

Also linked with crank pieces 30, near its periphery, is a connecting rod, 37, whose other end is pivotally attached to the crankarm, 38, of a clutch bar, 39, held rotatably in a bearing, 40.

Fixed upon clutch bar, 39, is a clutch arm, 41, having a terminal hook, 42, adaptedto be engaged with one of thelugs, 20, of

washer, 19. so as to lock said washer andof top, 2, and tends to keepthe lever, 28,.

normally against the crank piece, 30.

Another helical spring, 44, is connected between the push bars, 32, 33, the points of connection being so chosen that the pull of the spring, exerted through the push bars, tends to rotate piece, 30, clockwise.

The operation of my invention is as follows:

The motor, 3, being wound, if the parts are as is shown in Figs. 3 to 5, the machine will be inoperative since the clutch arm, 41, will have its hook, 42, looked upon one of the lugs 20, of washer, 19, thus preventing rotation of the washer and, consequently, of the governor shaft, 9, with which the washer is frictionally engaged. If, now, it is desired to start the machine, starting button, 35, is pushed inwardly, thereby exerting a push upon the bar 33 and rotating piece, 30, counter clockwise against the resistance of spring 44, and causing hook 442 to be disengaged from lug 20; lug, 29, of lever, 28, will slip over lug, 31, of crank piece, 30, and hold said piece in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, thus maintaining hook, 42, in its disengaged position.

The motor will now be able to rotate the record disk support, 6, and the record lying thereon.

To stop the machine, stop button, 34, is pushed inwardly, thus exerting a push upon the bar 32 which tends to rotate crank piece, 30, clockwise and presses the front edge of lug, 31, forcibly against the inner face "of downturned lug, 29. Because of the fact that the front edge of the lug, 31, is tapered with respect to lug, 29, the lever, 28, will be pushed away from crank piece, 30, sufficiently to release lug, 31; spring, 44, will then so act on the push rods, 32, 33, as to rotate piece, 30, clockwiseand thereby per mit hook, 42, to engage one of the lugs, 20, onrwash'er, 19. This, of course, will stop the governor shaft (and hence the entire machine)- owing to the frictional engagement of its shoulder, 17, with the washer.

Because of the frictional engagement between the washer, 19, and the governor shaft, the mechanism will be stopped without jar and, hence, without liability to derangement. While the washer, 19, will itself be stopped abruptly, the governor shaft and motor mechanism generally will, because of its inertia, slip very slightly so as to come torest gradually although swiftly.

If it be desired to. stop the machine automatically at the end'of the rendition of a given record, lever, 26, and its shaft, 27, are twisted or rotated with respect to lever, 28. (this being possible because of the frictional engagement between the shaftand lever, 28)

- so that, just as the record is finished, lever,

26,; will be engaged or tripped by trip lever, 25, thereby rotating lever, 28, counter clockwise and releasing lug, 31, so as to permit hook,,42, to engage lug 20.

Instead of causing the machine to stop automatically at the end of a record, any other point in the record may be chosen as a stopping point. Thus, by placing the sound box needle upon the record at a selected point it is possible to isolate and play a particular portion of a given record and, of course, to do this repeatedly.

It will be understood that, after each depression of the push buttons 34 and 35, they are returned to normal position by the springs 34 and 55 independently of each other and without in any way affecting the bars 32 and 38, as soon as pressure is removed from said buttons.

lVhile I have described and illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention, those skilled in the art will readily be able to construct other embodiments differing in detail within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a talking machine, the combination of driving mechanism, a governor controlling said mechanism, means cooperating directly with said governor to start and stop said driving mechanism and a plurality of manually operated devices whereby said means is actuated.

2. In a talking machine, the combination of driving mechanism, a governor controlling said mechanism, means cooperating directly with said governor to start and stop said driving, mechanism, a plurality of manually operated devices whereby said means is actuated and means whereby said first named means is automatically operated to stop said driving mechanism when a predetermined point of the record is reached.

3. In a talking machine, the combination of a cabinet, driving mechanism therein, a governor controlling said mechanism, means cooperating directly with said governor to start and stop said driving mechanism and a plurality of devices accessible from the exterior of said cabinet whereby said means is actuated. 7

i. In a talking machine, the combination of driving mechanism, means controlling said mechanism, a pair of rods operatively connected with said controlling means and n'ianually operated push bottons located in registry with said rods and having no positive connection therewith, said buttons being arranged to actuate said rods whereby said controlling means is operated to start and stop said driving mechanism.

5. In a talking machine, the combination of a cabinet, driving mechanism therein, means controlling said mechanism, a pair of rods operatively connected with said controlling means and manually operated push buttons for actuating said rods whereby said controlling means is operated to start and stop said driving mechanism, said push buttons extending through a wall of said cabinet so as to be accessible from the exterior thereof.

driving mechanism and means for returning said push buttons to normal position inde pendently of said rods.

7. In a talking machine, the combination of driving mechanism including a governor, a member in frictional engagement. with said governor, a clutch arm for locking said member and for releasing same whereby said governor is held against operation and released, a rotatable disk, a projection thereon, a connection from said disk to said clutch arm, a pair of rods connected with said disk at opposite sides of its axis, a pair of push buttons for actuating said rods whereby said disk is operated to move the clutch arm into and out of engagement with said member to stop and start said driving mechanism, springs for returning said push buttons to normal position independently of said rods, and a lever arranged to engage said projection to maintain said clutch arm in its inoperative position.

8. In a talking machine, the combination of driving mechanism including a governor, member 111 frictional engagement with said governor, a clutch arm for locking said member and for releasing same whereby said governor is held against operation and released, a rotatable disk, a projection thereon, a connection from said disk to said clutch arm, a pair of rods connected with said disk at opposite sides of its axis, a pair of push buttons for actuating said rods whereby said disk is operated to move the clutch arm into and out of engagement with said member to stop and start said driving mechanism, springs for returning said push buttons to normal position independently of said rods, a shaft, a lever carried by said shaft and arranged to engage said projection to maintain said clutch arm in 1ts inoperative position, a second lever on said shaft and adjustable thereon about its axis and a trip-lever arranged to move with the tone arm and to engage said second lever whereby said first lever is tripped to release said disk and said clutch arm is moved into engagement with said member to automatically stop said driving mechanism when a predetermined point on the record is reached.

- 9. In a talking machine, the combination of a driving mechanism including a governor and governor shaft having a shoulder, a device frictionally mounted upon said shaft, a sprlng for mamtalnlng sald device in frictional engagement With said shoulder I and starting and stopping means cooperating directly With said device whereby the latter is released to start the mechanism and locked to stop the same, the governor shaft because of its inertia moving relatively to said locked device and thereby coming to rest gradually and Without jarring.

10. In a talking machine, the combination of a cabinet, driving mechanism therein, means controlling said mechanism, a pair of rods operatively connected With said controlling means, manually operated push buttons located in registry With said rods and extending through a Wall of said cabinet so as to be accessible from the exterior thereof, said buttons having no positive connection with said rods and being arranged to operate the same whereby said controlling means is operated to start and stop said driving mechanism and springs whereby each button is independently returned to'normal position immediately after each operation thereof.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

MARMADUKE MOORE WILLS. 

